Ethiopian Eunuch

The story is well known:

Philip, an ordinary Christian is miraculously transported to the road where the African royal official of Ethiopia is riding on a chariot from Jerusalem to Gaza - presumably on his way back to Ethiopia. He is reading a scroll - the prophet Isaiah - when Philip catches up with him, and asks if he understands what he is reading. He says that he needs someone to explain to him the meaning.

The Ethiopian asks who this prophet is speaking about and Philip explains that it is Jesus and goes on to explain the Gospel. The Ethiopian, hears and readily converts, and so he asks Philip:

"See here is water. What prevents me from being baptized?"

They went down to the water, and Philip baptises the Ethiopian, and then was immediately whisked away leaving the Ethiopian to go on his way rejoicing. And there is a historical tradition that the official returned to Ethiopia to share the Gospel and Christian Church was established there.

The question he asked was very interesting: What prevents me from being baptised?

Under the Old Covenant, there was a major thing that would have prevented this person being converted and that was the fact that he was a eunuch - literally, a man who had been castrated.

Deuteronomy 23:1

This section has heading in some version of the Bible: Exclusion from the assembly

No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.

So far as the Jewish Religion was concerned for this hapless royal official there was a big sign that said

NO ENTRY TO EUNUCHS

Why did God send Philip to preach to him then? Why didn't Philip refuse to baptize him, for by baptizing him, he was welcoming them in the "communion of saints", into the Christian congregation. 

God SENT Philip to the Ethiopian. 

Had God forgotten about Deuternomy 23:1?

Maybe God didn't know that the official was a eunuch?

No, God does not forget His word and He knew, as did Philip, that the man was a Eunuch. 

So, how do we account for this apparent contradiction?

God, being God could have performed a miracle and healed him so that he was no longer a eunuch.

He could have, but He didn't.

So here, right at the beginning of the Church, one significant, and massive barrier to salvation is officially swept away. I say, "officially", because, this barrier along with EVERY OTHER barrier was done away with when Jesus cried out from the Cross - "IT IS FINISHED" and the Temple curtain was torn.

Writing out this in my journal, there was this verse written at the bottom of one of the pages, "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him." - 1 Samuel 22:31

NO ENTRY TO EUNUCHS

For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes will not perish but have eternal Life - Jesus

It is not merely incidental that this man was a eunuch and that unlike in this blog where in the beginning I made a point of referring to him as anything but "eunuch" (I was not being coy!) He is referred to almost exclusively as eunuch in the passage. Preachers tend to gloss over the fact that he was a eunuch, as if that had no bearing on the story, but I think that Luke, who wrote this account in the Book of Acts, really wanted to make a point about this fact about this man. 

Today there are many who say you cannot be a Christian and gay, lesbian, bisexual or transexual. 

I want to say that this passage, and the story in Acts 10 of the Apostle Peter going to the house of Cornelius where God shows a vision to Peter and says to him very clearly "Do not call unclean, what God has declared to be clean." I put it to you, that that which barred our way into the congregation of faith previously, will no longer impede our access to the throne of Grace.

Does a homosexual person have to repent of his homosexuality in order to be admitted to the congregation?

Was the eunuch healed? No - neither do you need to be "healed of homosexuality".

I want it to be understood - sexual orientation is not chosen, or taught, - and it is a physical aspect of our being, since whatever the "cause" of our sexual orientation, whether DNA or hormone levels - it is at a fundamental level a physical entity. 

People have been trying to heal homosexuality for many years - but they have completely failed   

Churches used to say that slavery was ordained by God, and people who were enslaved were destined to be slaves by the will of God. Although slavery, sadly still exists in this world, it is officially illegal all over the world and contravenes Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. No church would advocate slavery today.

Churches were once against interracial marriages backing laws that prohibitted people marrying "across the colour bar" - now they go to great lengths to justify interracial marriage. 

Today the issue is same sex marriage and homosexuality - and if the trend continues (which it is doing), this too will as time goes by become a non-issue. I look forward to that time when we can get back to the fundamental message of the Gospel, that God is not a respecter of persons and if you love Jesus, believe that He died for your salvation and rose again on the third day - then there is indeed nothing to prevent you from being baptised.

If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transexual or straight, and want to be a Christian - I want you to know that you, like the eunuch, can know joy of Jesus in your heart and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Please forgive those who try and tell you that you need to change. Don't listen to them - listen to your heart.

When the prophet Samuel came to Jesse's house to anoint the next king, Jesse thought it was one of his older sons and had them all lined up, but God would not let Samuel anoint any of them.God said to Samuel: "The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7
He asked Jesse if there was any other son, and only then did Jesse send for David who was shepherding. God told Samuel to anoint David - the little brother. 

Rembrandt's "Baptism of the eunuch"

Break out

I wrote this some time ago and entered it for a poetry competition. Unfortunately it did not win any prize so I have decided to put it up on my own page. Hope you like it.

Break Out

Break out of

Holy huddles in hallowed halls

harmonising humdrum hymns or hollering hallelujah

harping on about how humanity is heading to hell in a handbasket, while

hating homos, hoodies, Hindus, and other heterogenous humans,

harbouring hostility towards the homeless, however they lost their housing, in

Harringay, Hackney, Havering, Homerton, Hoxton, Highbury or Hounslow.

Holding on to historical notions about the

hierarchy in church and society if you believe in the existence of society, that is,

helping yourselves to as much as you can hold  God helps those who help themselves”

heaping blame for all societal ills on the “workshy” unemployed Scroungers

and “immigrants” who came to steal our jobs.

handing out hand-outs and hand-me-downs to the “helpless handicapped”

holding placards outside hospitals,

Howling abuse about abortions

Harrumphing in haughty disgust, with mumblings about

Heresy, when someone questions, let alone, disagrees with what you say

Wholly forgetting what humility is

Hoping to have a horde of heavenly points Shining up your halo

Hypocrites!

Break out, Reach out, Touch -

Head for the high streets, houses and hangouts

Hearing, Helping and Connecting with humanity.

Handing out food to the Hungry and

Heeding God’s call to

Herald His amazing unconditional love.

HINC SPES AFFULGET - Hence Hope Shines Forth

Sitting at the back of St. Mary Aldermary Church in London last Saturday, at a meeting of Two:23 Network, my eye was drawn by one of the stained glass windows and a coat of arms that was depicted. It was the coat of arms for The Worshipful Company of Innholders and the motto that I read was HINC SPES AFFULGET meaning "Hence hope shines forth". 

The theme of the meeting was WELCOME. Innholders were also known as hostelers and hospitalers, and were at least in London the fore-runners of the hospitality industry. The strapline of the Innholders' Company is The home of hospitality since 1473.

There is therefore a link between the theme of the meeting and the Innholders Company. A key to great hospitality is to make your guest feel welcome. The industry has made an art of making people feel welcome. But is the welcome that the Industry extends genuine? The more the guest is likely to spend, the greater the welcome that is extended to them. Is this the kind of hospitality we as Christians are called to share?

What does the Bible say about hospitality?
Is the word hospitality appear in the Bible? It most certainly does. It is the translation of the Greek word, φιλοξενίαν (philoxenian) and appears twice in the NT.  It is a compound word, PHILOS (love) + XENOS (stranger). This makes hospitality more than entertaining guests well, but the exact opposite of xenophobia.

Romans 12:13
Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

These are by no means the only words on the subject of hospitality, for woven throughout the Bible are verses that make it clear that we are to show hospitality.  Contrary to what is widely taught today, Sodom brought the wrath of God on itself because it was inhospitable (Ezekiel 16:49) Jesus in his teaching made many references to the need for hospitality. The parables of the Sheep and Goats, and of the Good Samaritan spring to mind. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, it was the way people treated "the least of these" that determined whether they were to be regarded as sheep to be saved or goats to be condemned, for Jesus said that their treatment of the "least of these" was their treatment of Him.

The parable of the Good Samaritan shows us that we do not have to be at home to practice hospitality. A Samaritan sets out on a journey. We are not told what the purpose of that journey but we can surmise that it was something important because he was traversing country that would have been decidedly hostile to him as a Samaritan. He was probably in a hurry as he would have probably wanted to reach his destination before nightfall. He might have heard a noise of groaning, or seen a slight movement out of the corner of his eye, or the injured man may have been lying there in plain sight, but the Samaritan notices him and immediately  has compassion for the man in his suffering,  He goes over to the man who had been attacked by robbers, and he sets his own agenda aside and starts attending to the needs of this unfortunate man. We read that two other men had seen the stricken traveller before the Samaritan came across him: men who should really have known better, a priest and a levite, men too full of their own importance to be inconvenienced by this man in great need, and they scurried on their way pretending not to notice him. After relating this rather detailed parable to the rich young ruler, in answer to his question, "Who is my neighbour?", Jesus asked the ruler who it was that was a neighbour to the man who had been attacked. Perhaps because he could not bring himself to utter the word, "Samaritan",  answered "the one who helped him."  The Samaritan showed true hospitality to the unfortunate man on the road to Jericho. He gave unstintingly with no thought of repayment.  I wonder if, when the man thanked the Samaritan, whether the Samaritan replied, "You are welcome?".

Mi casa es  su casa  - my house is your house, goes the Spanish saying. This, to my mind is the epitome of hospitality, letting someone feel at home in your home or, if you are not at home then feel comfortable in your space or presence.

What has hospitality got to do with hope? 
When a person is made genuinely welcome, they feel loved, and accepted and worthy. When a person is excluded or unwelcome, they develop a sense of worthlessness. This is a tragic state of affairs. If you are excluded from anything, or made to feel that you don't really belong, for whatever reason, you may feel hopeless. Thus, when one feels welcomed and appreciated, that sense of hope is restoed and it will indeed shine out.

I suppose the question is why would someone be unwelcome or feel unwelcome in a given circumstance. Well i alluded to one reason earlier, and that is a lack of money and an inability to pay for "services", or in the eyes of hosts, one is not worthy of their hospitality. It may not be an issue of money, but based in some prejudice that the hosts feel they are superior to this person is not welcome. Racism, prejudice against a certain religious group, or disapproval of the 'lifestyle' of the person, such as people who are LGBT, and of whom some people assume they have a certain lifestyle - this is called homophobia and it is totally unacceptable.

Revelation 3:20 

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

Do you want to welcome Jesus into your life? Do you want share with Jesus? Remember He said, Whatever you do the least of these my people, you do for me. Are you ready to share with that person whom you don't consider worthy. Maybe in doing so you eil be sharing with Jesus.

Don't you know?

Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
I said
"Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me - 
whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me"

Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
I said
"If you disown me before others, I will disown you before my Father"

Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
I said
"Judge not, or you will be judged"

Don't you know?
Haven't you heard?
I said,
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength 
 and love your neighbour as you love yourself"

So you call it 'love' when you slam the door in your daughters face
Because she loves someone of a different race?
So you call it 'love' when you write you son out of your will
because he's going to marry Bill?

I tell you whatever you did to those whom you view to be the least you did to me


If you take the good gifts I gave you and throw them in the trash 
(regarding them as cheap), 
you have thrown me onto that self-same heap!

Don't you know?
Haven't you heard? 
I said,
"Love one another as I have loved you"


So you call it 'love' when you use your authority 
to shout at, denounce and shame,
The children in my name?

I command you to be quiet
Listen to my voice
Love one another and 
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!

Waiting

The following poem comes out of an evening service which was called "Creative Prayer" -

Waiting....

"Please hold on...."

Fingers drum on the tabletop.
Eyes, first glancing then staring at a wristwatch.
Tick, Tick, Tick, Tick.
Seconds stroll by.

Ears hearing muzak on its umpteenth loop
A sigh.
Teeth gritted 
Heart racing.
Tension building
Anxiety rising with each passing second.

"Oh Lord, how long must I wait?"
One hand reaches for a little book on the table
A Gideon's New Testament
Fingers flick through the pages...
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
Patience
Long....suffering
Endurance

"I want to give that person a piece of my mind!"
But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy,
Peace
Contentment
Calmness

"I can put you through now; sorry for the delay."
"I'm not"

He took off all his clothes

“I hid my wound under my clothes. Nobody could see it, including myself, and I completely forgot about it. Then I met someone who, filled with love, held me tight in that point. The pain was devastating, and I hated him, o how much I hated him, the cause of all my suffering. Then I met someone, beautifully dressed, and I loved him so much, holding him tight with all my passion. And he suffered badly, and he hated me, o how much he hated me, the cause of all his pain. So the story went on till I met someone who undressed himself, standing completely naked, with all his horrible wounds. Hence I also undressed, and I saw my horrible wounds, which he could also see. Then...”

--Franco Santoro

At the risk of upsetting some of you, I want to say that that last fiigure in the quote reminds me of Jesus. Not the Jesus that has too often been misrepresented. He is not the one who squeezes too tight and causes pain and distress. Those wounds that he shows us were inflicted because of us and he bore them because he came to rescue us. He doesn't show them to us to show off (as some might) but so we can know that He loves us so much that He would suffer and die for us. He wants us to be completely  naked not to humiliate or embarrass us, but so that we can STOP feeling ashamed. So that can know that we don't have to cover up the hurt. When we take off all our clothes, He is not surprised by anything. He knows all about it. But our nakedness is for us.

For God so loved the World that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but Have eternal life. John 3:16

The quotation at the beginning of this note was probably not written with Jesus in mind but it did speak to me of Christ and His love for us. I saw the quotation on a friend's wall. I do not know the author or anything about his philosophy of life. This essay is based only on the included quotation.

Disability

I missed the morning service on Sunday as was visiting a friend who lives out of London.  However when I got to the evening service and read the notice sheet, I learnt that they were dealing with the theme of "disability". I don't know how Young, our curate and the team dealt with it, but let me first of all quote what was written in the notice sheet.

Some people who have what is defined as a disability say "I have not been handicapped by my condition. I am physically challenged and differently able."We often define disability when some is disabled - mentally, physically or emotionally.  However, in those conditions sometimes people with a disability are far more able than we are. Surely none of us are perfect and all of us have some chalenge that we have to work around. 

As we are dealing with the theme of "disability" this morning what would your answer[s] be to these questions:

• What is my attitude to people who have disabilities and
• how do I react to them as a Christian? 
• Are there positive sides of being disabled?
• What does the Bible tell us about weaknesses? 

Let us take encouragement from Paul's own experience:

"When I am weak, then I am strong."

The Scripture texts for the morning service were Genesis 1:26 -31 and 1 Corinthians 12:21 - 26.

Well as I have already noted, I wasn't there to hear what Young and the team concluded but let me have a go at trying to answer these questions. 

Firstly let me commend the writer for describing it as a theme and not an issue.  For many however, it IS an issue or to put it more bluntly a problem. Also, correctly they made reference to people with disabilities instead of disabled people. This may sound like we are just being pedantic there is an important distinction to be made.

To say "a disabled person" you are making the disability the one and most important aspect of the person's existence, whereas, if you say "a person with disabilities" you are acknowledging the person as a person, and that the disability is an aspect of their lives.

So, I suppose my first answer to the question what is my attitude to people with disabilities, is that it is no different to people who do not have a disability - I treat them as a human being worthy of my respect. However, the truth is that we are affected by the fact that a person has a disability no matter how far we have advanced. People's attitudes to disability range from the downright hostile and fearful to being (I suppose too far on the other side, OVER-INDULGENT, accepting of any bad behaviour or foul language simply because the person is disabled.

I truly believe in an inclusive society and you can have a look over previous blogs where I have moaned about society not being inclusive. I think society as a general rule should be FAR more accepting and accommodating of people with disabilities. Just yesterday, I was riding a London bus to Stratford, and after the bus has stopped at one of bus stops to pick up passengers and the recorded voice said, "This bus is 97 for Stratford City. One of the passengers suddenly said as it were back to the recorded voice, "I know, that is why I am on this bus." He, not being blind, did not realise that that voice is there to assist the visually impaired (and those who cannot read). The irony was, I saw he was wearing two hearing aids.

Inclusiveness is more than adapting buildings to give access to people who use wheelchairs, or providing signs in braille or a sign-language interpreter to help those who are hearing-impaired. It means each and every one of us reaching out to make a person with a disability feel like they can be involved with whatever we are doing, and taking their needs and wants into consideration when planning activities even as a group of friends. It is getting them involved in the planning as much as possible and allowing them to make valuable contributions in plans for others.

Earlier this year, Jill preached about hospitality being a very important theme in the Bible. Well, as a Christian, I suppose I could ask how hospitable are we to people with disabilities. Are we a disability friendly fellowship? If your answer to that is yes, that is really great, but ask yourself, what steps can we take to make it even more disability friendly? I am currently learning British Sign Language - I'm on level two now. I do not say that to boast, but I truly hope to one day reach the capability level to be able to interpret preaching in Church so that I can invite people who rely on BSL to enjoy the service and be able to participate. I look forward to the day when every Church will have signers as an integral part of their team.

One way to improve our attitudes and responses to the needs of people with disabilities is to increase out knowledge. When a missionary goes to a foreign country to share the Gospel, part of their training is to learn about the people they will be working with. They spend months learning the local language, and cultural mores, such as their customs, the way they dress, and the foods they eat.

If we want to make people with disabilities feel more welcome, an understanding of the disabilities that affect them will be a good step in the right direction.

One area that causes people most anxiety is how to respond to people with learning disabilities or difficulties. The term itself is unfamiliar to many. I am talking about people who, in the old way of speaking, were retarded. That is, their intellect, their thinking and their ability to learn either developed at a very much slower rate than people of their own chronological age, or stopped developing so that intellectually and behaviourally they are like a person much younger than someone of their age. This problem is most pronounced in adults, and it can be a hard thing when you see an adult person acting like a child. It certainly is not very cute. People with Down Syndrome have Learning Disabilities as are people with some forms of Autism (though not all.) Some people with Cerebral palsy can be affected by learning difficulties, but this is not a universal feature of people cerebral palsy.

I would like to debunk some stereotypes and stigmas surrounding people with learning difficulties, if I may.
1) They are not "mad". And they are not generally dangerous. If they are younger, it is quite safe for you to let your children play with them and they are likely to enter into the games they play with full commitment and enthusiasm. It would not be wise to leave them unattended but you wouldn't leave your child in the care of another child or an adult you didn't know very well, would you? If your child is old enough to understand, explain that the person has a disability that means that the act a bit different to other children/teenagers/adults. Remind them of basic rules like they cannot go outside without permission, etc. And then let them play. Remember that the person with learning disabilities may need more time to process a new idea and make allowances for this. If you think things are getting out of hand, remove children from the immediate locality, if possible. Always be guided by the person who is that person's carer.

2) Do not talk about the individual in the individual's presence as if they were not there. If necessary, phrase whatever you need to say in a way that is including them in the conversation even if you think they will not understand what they are hearing. There is a misconception that people with learning difficulties are STUPID. This is certainly not the case, for though they may not understand everything you say, they certainly are very good at picking up negative vibes and nastiness. They are also very good at reading body language (glances in their direction, and devices such as spelling words you don't want to utter (you never know, they might be good spellers))

3) DO NOT SET THEM UP FOR RIDICULE OR TO BE EMBARRASSED and where this happens (outside of your control) try to minimise the effect. For example, the person with learning difficulties accidentally wets or soils their pants during a service. The reaction of some people might be to hold their nose or look at the person in disgust. Some might make disparaging comments. It would be good if an adult of the same gender (assuming their is no carer who would normally deal with these things), quickly take the person by the hand and get them to the nearest toilet. Then, with the help of a second adult (for safeguarding purposes, no-one should enter a toilet with or attend to intimate personal care of a child or vulnerable adult on their own) should help the person clean themselves up and help them calm down if they are distressed. This aspect of minimising embarrassment is extremely important as the negative impact of such an experience can be very long lasting.

Often people with learning difficulties LOVE TO PERFORM and often display a confidence that way surpasses their skill in performing. Church services often provide a great platform for them to perform. It may be, for instance, that during a family service a group of children might stand at the front to sing a song. You might notice, that in the group is a child who might be quite a bit older than the others, and/or whose abilities to harmonise or remember or the words, is not quite there. it might be beneficial, in such circumstances, for the leader of the service to say something like this.

"Now the ----------- group are going to sing a song for us. For visitors to our service today, this group is comprised of children/people of different ages and abilities (different abilities - in this case is code for disabled) I am sure you will enjoy their singing and give them the deserved encouragement."

As usual I have not said everything i wanted to and time is running out, so I am going to put this up, and maybe add some more later. Please feel free to comment on this blog.